Raspberry Pi mini computer becomes a tech playground

March 8, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Niels Mayer, of Corona del Mar, holds up his modified Raspberry Pi computer in front of a connected TV set running video from the internet. The tiny computer board sells for just $35 without any peripherals or even a case to hold it. EUGENE GARCIA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Raspberry Pi computers owned by Niels Mayer of Corona del Mar have been custom-fitted with tiny heat sinks to prevent over-heating. Mayers over-clocks its processor to 900 Mhz, which can cause it to overheat. EUGENE GARCIA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Niels Mayer, of Corona del Mar, holds up his modified Raspberry Pi computer in front of a connected TV set running video from the internet. The tiny computer board sells for just $35 without any peripherals or even a case to hold it. EUGENE GARCIA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Broadcom engineer Eben Upton started a foundation with a simple goal: to make and sell an inexpensive computer that could help teach children computer programming.

The result: Upton created the Raspberry Pi, a $35 computer slightly larger than an Altoids tin that's like a blank slate for tech enthusiasts.

While modern computer systems like the iPod Touch lock out users from rooting around in the hardware and software of a gadget, and learning how it works in the process, this microcomputer is completely open.

It can be turned into a device loaded with simple programming tools and learning programs or software to run a media center, game, security system or robot.

One year after putting the Raspberry Pi on sale, Upton's foundation has sold 1 million of the tiny devices as it struggles to keep up with demand for the computer, which is now widely available online.

The Raspberry Pi features a chip from Irvine-based Broadcom at its core on a board that exposes all its parts, with a collection of standard connectors all around the edge. That means kids and adults alike can hook up the bare-bones machine to an HDTV, mouse, keyboard and the Internet using cords and accessories they might already have around the house.

The computers also use inexpensive Secure Digital storage cards – the type used to save pictures in most modern digital cameras – to run the computer's software. That's important because Raspberry Pi can't be irreparably broken by someone playing with the software. A user can repurpose the computer by simply swapping out a card.

In an interview with the Register, Upton, who is based in England working for Broadcom as a chip architect, talked about his mini computer, the unexpected demand and the future of Raspberry Pi.

Q. How was the Broadcom chip on the Pi developed?

A. It was developed by our design team in Cambridge, originally as a smartphone graphics chip. We added an ARM core (chip architecture popular on mobile devices) to a second revision of the device specifically to support applications like Raspberry Pi.

Q. How are you able to sell it so cheaply?

A. Primarily through the use of highly integrated chips originally intended for smartphone applications, with a low external component count.

Q. Why did you decide to do this as a nonprofit?

A. A variety of reasons, the most important being that it resolves any conflict of interest issues around my dual role at Broadcom and the foundation.

Q. What do you think will be the long-term impact?

A. We hope to see a measurable increase in the number of young people choosing to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects.

What's been the biggest challenge?

A. Hitting the price point, and meeting demand.

Q. You have said you expected to sell a couple thousand units – has the popularity altered your plans?

A. It's provided us with the resources to do a lot more software development, but has also forced us to take a more professional approach to releasing. We can't just throw an untested release out into the world with a million customers depending on it.

Q. Do you see general consumers buying a Pi with a pre-loaded SD card for a specific purpose, like a media center, and not programming?

A. I think there are people doing this at the moment, and we'd like to do more to support this.

Q. Much of the software out there turns your computer into a machine people use for something other than programming. Are those uses counter to the purpose?

A. We actually see this trend as supportive of our educational mission, as these sorts of applications can be a "hook" that gets a Pi into a child's life. Lots of people of my generation ended up programming machines that we'd bought for other reasons, often games.

Q. Having the entire system run on an SD card means you just swap out that one piece and the machine can be repurposed. Does that open up possibilities for the future?

A. Yes. This was a cost-saving feature originally, but the "stateless" nature of the Pi has turned out to be key both to usability – you can't "brick" a Pi – and flexibility. That said, it's cheap enough that we see a lot of people buying a Pi per project, rather than reusing a single Pi with multiple cards.

Q. What's next for Raspberry Pi in 2013?

A. A lot of software optimization work and a renewed focus on our educational mission.

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